amplexus

English

Etymology

Latin amplexus (“embrace”)

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛksəs

Noun

amplexus (uncountable)

1. A form of pseudocopulation, found chiefly in amphibians and horseshoe crabs, in which a male grasps a female with his front legs as part of the mating process.
   • 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, chapter 1, in The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Henry Holt and Company:

     Finally, we came upon a pair of Panamanian robber frogs locked in amplexus—the amphibian version of sex.

   • 2018 March 29, Ed Douglas, “Country diary: tantric embraces and nuptial pads – the secrets of frog sex revealed”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     In the middle, just below the surface, a male and a female were locked in amplexus, a coupling that can last for days as the male waits to fertilise the eggs when they are laid.

Derived terms

• amplexus reservatus

Related terms

• amplex

Translations

pseudocopulation in which a male grasps a female with his front legs

• Portuguese: amplexo (pt) m

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /amˈplek.sus/, [ämˈpɫ̪ɛks̠ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /amˈplek.sus/, [ämˈplɛksus]

Etymology 1

Perfect active participle of amplector (“surround; grasp”).

Participle

amplexus (feminine amplexa, neuter amplexum); first/second-declension participle

1. surrounded, encircled, entwined
2. embraced, clasped, grasped
3. esteemed
4. cherished

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	amplexus	amplexa	amplexum		amplexī	amplexae	amplexa
Genitive	amplexī	amplexae	amplexī		amplexōrum	amplexārum	amplexōrum
Dative	amplexō		amplexō		amplexīs
Accusative	amplexum	amplexam	amplexum		amplexōs	amplexās	amplexa
Ablative	amplexō	amplexā	amplexō		amplexīs
Vocative	amplexe	amplexa	amplexum		amplexī	amplexae	amplexa

Etymology 2

amplector +‎ -tus

Noun

amplexus m (genitive amplexūs); fourth declension

1. clasp, embrace
2. a loving embrace, caress (mostly in the plural)
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.553–554:

     ūna ministrārum solita est, Cadmēī, tuārum
     saepe sub amplexūs coniugis īre tuī.

     It had been the habit of one of your serving-women, [daughter] of Cadmus, often to go under the embraces of your husband.
     (The daughter of Cadmus is Ino (mythology).)

3. coil
4. circumference

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	amplexus	amplexūs
Genitive	amplexūs	amplexuum
Dative	amplexuī	amplexibus
Accusative	amplexum	amplexūs
Ablative	amplexū	amplexibus
Vocative	amplexus	amplexūs

Descendants

• English: amplexus

References

• “amplexus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “amplexus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• amplexus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.